Comparison of major complications rates following either guided-stent angioplasty versus open bypass in cardiac disease patients.

The purpose of this article is to summarize the outcomes of the FAME 3 trial recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Surgical management of coronary artery disease has gradually gone through an evolution as intra-vascular technology has progressed in the past two decades. Current stent technology is thinner and less prone to both stenosis and clotting than earlier stents. Prior studies have suggested that open bypass is more effective than stenting and with fewer complications. The authors report that 40% of Americans over 60 years old have some degree of narrowing of the…